Archive for
April 26th, 2012

Our march in London on 10th May will send a very powerful message to Government; as police officers we are outraged at the way we are being treated and we have real concerns about the negative impact the cuts will have on public safety.

Every police officer who is available to come to London and join the march should attend to demonstrate our anger and concern about the future of the best police service in the world. The reality of the Government imposed 20% cut to the police budget is starting to bite with the frontline beginning to suffer as a result; we have already lost over 5,200 police officer colleagues and we are under great strain as core policing services and units are either being privatised or cut completely.

We currently have a very demoralised police service; despite being absolutely committed to providing the best service that we can, we are struggling to cope as the cuts go deeper and deeper. We have already made a fundamental contribution to help tackle the national debt. We have a two-year pay freeze, we have seen our pension contributions increase and a total of Â£300 million has been removed from police pay, yet we are being singled out and treated very unfairly by this Government.

As police officers, we do not have industrial rights, we cannot go on strike and we feel we have become a target by a Government determined to drive through ideological and detrimental reforms to the police service that will result in a poorer service for the public.

On 10th May our voice will be heard loud and clear. I look forward to seeing you on the march.